Dispensers of tape, such as adhesive tape, are now well known. These dispensers handle a spool or cartridge of relatively small size since a considerable length of tape, which is very thin, can be accommodated in a small spool or cartridge. Lengths of plastic-coated ribbon or wire are now widely used in the home, retail stores, and industry, for a variety of purposes, for example, to bundle articles such as bags filled with produce, hardware items, or the like, pieces of wood or metal, an innumerable other items.
Dispensers for this type of product are also known, and such dispensers are different from the conventional adhesive tape dispenser, and the cutting mechanism therefor is also different. For one thing, the plastic-coated ribbon is usually provided in a considerably larger roll than the adhesive tape. For this and other reasons, it can be seen that tape and wire ties are so different that the well-known adhesive tape dispenser cannot be easily modified to serve as a wire tie dispenser.
One U.S. patent is known, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,626, which shows a dispenser for plastic-coated ribbon or wire. This product does not include a replaceable spool; it does not include a convenient housing; and the relationship between the wire, as it feeds from the spool, and the cutter is undesirably awkward.
The present invention provides a plastic-coated ribbon or wire tie dispenser which has a replaceable spool or cartridge, has a convenient and attractive housing, and has an optimum relationship between the wire and a cutting mechanism.